


earth, humans, and rain.

by timetrees



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ishbalan | Ishvalan, Gen, Ishvalan AU, Religion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-16 05:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13630029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timetrees/pseuds/timetrees
Summary: Ed had another name, one that he did not speak and he did not tell.“Eliraz,” Tchiya said, holding him against her chest and on her leg, one brown arm around his waist. “This night, will you tell your brother one of my stories with me?”Ed squirmed in her grasp, a foolish child who hadn’t yet realized what he still had. “Which one?” he asked.





	1. the world to come

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really like ishvalan aus so i decided to write one myself! note that i haven't read the manga, so this will be brotherhood only. i know the manga has some stuff and info the anime doesn't, so keep that in mind. also, the names for ishvalans and some of the religion in this story are closely related to judaism, so if that's not your thing, then i guess leave?

Ed had two names.

He was Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist, the youngest (and, in his opinion, the most accomplished) state alchemist in history. He was the son of Van Hohenheim and Trisha Elric, of an alchemist and a housewife, two people so different (in his mind) that he found it incredible that they’d married, even in an unofficial sense.

Ed had another name, one that he did not speak and he did not tell. Nobody called him by that name, not anymore. Not even Al did, which Ed was grateful for and agonized about at the same time.

Eliraz was a name known to few in these days. Ed wasn’t sure if there was anyone left with his other name, and he had no way of telling. That was the way his mother’s people functioned – names were sacred things, not to be spoken lightly and not to be shared with outsiders. They had titles, nicknames, but their True names were to be shared with family, close friends, and God.

Ed believed in no God. Not anymore.

_“Eliraz,” Tchiya said, holding him against her chest and on her leg, one brown arm around his waist. “This night, will you tell your brother one of my stories with me?”_

_Ed squirmed in her grasp, a foolish child who hadn’t yet realized what he still had. “Which one?” he asked._

_“The sand cat’s tale,” his mother said after a moment of deliberation. “He hasn’t heard that one yet, has he?”_

_“I don’t know,” Ed said. “He always falls asleep before you tell them.”_

_“Don’t blame him for resting, dear,” Trisha said with a laughing smile. “He needs to grow tall. You do, too.”_

_Ed scowled as much as a five year old could, face half smushed against his mother’s body. “I’m not short,” he mumbled into her. “‘m just growing, still.”_

_Tchiya hummed. “Of course you are.”_

What kind of God would take a loyal, innocent follower from the world of the living?

“Ed,” Al said from a ways away. He was sitting against a wall, metal legs pulled up to his chest. Ed felt a tugging in his heart when he looked at his brother; he always had, since the incident.

Ed pulled his automail leg up so his foot was flat on the mattress. “What?” he said, more roughly than he’d intended.

“You just looked sad,” Al said. Ed forgot sometimes that, despite his bulky body, his younger brother was still just a child, a year younger than him and just as traumatized but still childish in many ways. “What were you thinking about?”

Ed looked away.

“Names,” he said, vaguely. To a native Ishvalan, his words would have made sense and more, but to Al, who was so young and so removed from their mother’s nation, it must have seemed like deflection.

“Alright,” Al said, sounding uncertain.

Not for the first time, Ed wondered if Mustang knew he was part Ishvalan. He wasn’t full Ishvalan – his father was from Amestris, or at least Ed was pretty sure he was. Ed had his father’s golden eyes (which he despised but was thankful for), but his skintone was something close to his mother’s and hair a shade closer to white than to blonde.

He had his father’s cheekbones, but his mother’s Ishvalan nose. Ed hated looking like his father, and he was glad that his skin was darker, because then at least he wasn’t reminded of that bastard every time he moved.

“Al,” Ed said. “Do you think I look like Dad?”

Al shifted a bit, armor creaking like they hadn’t _just_ oiled it. “Not really,” he said, with the voice of someone who knew that most mentions of Hohenheim led Ed into a rant. “Ish–”

He paused and leaned over, looking through the open door of the room they were staying in. It was Hughes’ house, and Maes was a good man (though he was annoying), but it still wasn’t wise to bring it up so openly.

Apparently satisfied, Al turned back to Ed. “Ishvalan genes tend to run strong,” he said, quieter than before.

“Yeah…” Ed cracked one knuckle. “Yeah, I guess they are. Mom’s only–”

The breath was knocked out of him almost immediately after just mentioning her. He couldn’t even finish the sentence. _Mom’s only three fourths Ishvalan and she looks like she’s full._ He hadn’t accidentally referred to her in the present tense in years.

“Mom was only three fourths,” Al finished for him.

“Yeah,” Ed said, sighing harshly but gratefully. “I… I think I’m going to go to sleep.”

“Okay,” Al said, sadly. Al couldn’t sleep; Edward didn’t know what he did throughout the night while he was asleep, but he preferred not to think of it. Al, sitting alone, thinking all the thoughts that only came to one at night. Ed felt guilty enough as it was.

“Goodnight, Adiv,” he mumbled, sniffing. “We’re gonna figure it out soon. You’ll see.”

“I will,” Al said. “Sleep well, brother.”

Ed closed his eyes.

_“Eliraz,” Tchiya said, when their father left to talk with the Rockbells, “do you know why I only call you your other name while we’re alone?”_

_“No,” Ed said, sipping reluctantly at his milk. “That’s just how it is.”_

_Tchiya laughed. It was a wonderful sound. “There’s no such thing as ‘just how it is’,” she told him. “Everything has reasons. Everywhere has laws. Some laws and decrees aren’t just. Not everyone is as accepting of my people as your father and the Rockbells.”_

_“Your people?” Ed asked._

_“The people of Ishval,” Tchiya said. “You’ve heard about the war?”_

_Ed slumped in his seat. “Yeah,” he said. “The Rockbells are gonna go off and help the people in the war. Are Ishvalans there?”_

_“Yes,” Tchiya said. “There’s injustice in the world, and Ishvala can only do so much to stop it. The Amestrian government is fighting our people and we’re fighting back. That’s why the war exists.”_

_“War is dumb,” Ed stated._

_Tchiya closed her eyes. “Yes,” she said, “it is.”_

_They were both quiet for a while. Ed put his tongue in his cup of milk, trying to drink it like a cat. When he was finished embarrassing himself, he looked back at his mother._

_She looked tired._

_“Are you okay, Mama?” he asked her._

_She made no move to respond. Slowly, and then all too quickly, her skin became to char and blacken, her bones slipping out of place, blood dripping down onto the table._

_“Mom!” Ed screamed, jumping up. “Mama?”_

_“There’s another law,” Trisha said, voice demonic in its deterioration. “The law of equivalent exchange. You’ve heard of it, haven’t you? So why did you IGNORE IT?”_

Ed woke up on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> name meanings (taken from hebrewnames.org);  
> • eliraz: meaning 'my god is a mystery/secret'  
> • tchiya: meaning 'resurrection, rebirth, revival' (ow)  
> umm please comment if you can! i've never written for fma before so feedback would be appreciated. thanks!!!


	2. the soul of man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “An Ishvalan, _too?_ ” he repeated. His voice held an emotion that Ed couldn’t place, but still didn’t like. “Are you saying you’re Ishvalan?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ehh not as happy with this chapter but i'm just gonna post it! hope it doesn't disappoint you guys. also, i got so many comments on the first chapter and i just want to say thank you so much!!!

What kind of God, Ed thought, would allow his creatures, even if they were not His creatures, to torment each other so easily?

What sort of all-seeing deity would watch his people march into a war ending only in death? Not even allowed to defend themselves with alchemy, which was one thing Ed hadn’t ever understood in the past. They worshipped and they prayed and they died.

Nina was five years old.

“Al,” Ed said. “I’m tired.”

Al was quiet for a moment, though Ed could hear his fingers moving, making only slight noises as they twitched. It was a habit from childhood, one that could still carry over in his new body. “Me too,” Al admitted softly.

Ed pulled his knees up to his chest and hugged his arms around the underside of them. He didn’t understand humanity, or God, or the will of Tucker and alchemists like him. For the first time, he understood the Ishvalan taboo on alchemy. Not all alchemists were monsters, but the ones who were…

Al spoke again. “We should see her tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” Ed looked down, eyes narrowed and locked onto nothing. “I can’t sleep.”

“You need to try,” Al said, almost too immediately. Ed clenched his teeth; he hated talking about anything Al couldn’t do to him, even if Al was too stupidly selfless to voice any discomfort.

“I know,” Ed muttered. His voice was too strained to not sound angry.

He’d almost managed to forget everything that was going on when Al spoke again. “Do you ever think about.” he paused. “Religion? Like, Ishvalan religion? I know we’re not religious…”

“I think about it all the time,” Ed responded. He was apparently so unexpectedly truthful that Al shifted in surprise, armor hitting the wall and making a thudding sort of noise. “Not good things, though,” Ed added.

“Yeah…” Al sighed. It was strange that he could sigh in his body, Ed thought, but he was grateful for it. It made him seem more obviously human.

 

_“Ed!” Al screamed, voice raw and stuttering. He wasn’t used to his body now. “Ed, you’re– you’re bleeding, oh no, you’re–– your leg, it’s––!”_

_“Shut up, Al,” Ed rasped, gasping for breath as he struggled to wrap a bandage around the stump of his arm. It was barely a stump, really – just the shoulder, so small he couldn’t get the gauze around it even if he’d had an extra hand. “I–– your body.” he whimpered in pain. It was so much. It was too much._

_“What_ happened _?” Al asked. He couldn’t cry in his body, but his voice made it sound like he was. “My body–– why am I in armor?”_

_Ed started sobbing, not from physical pain but from guilt and anger. “I’m so sorry,” he said, and repeated it. His voice got quieter, more slurred each time he said it. He was going to pass out. He needed to help his little brother. He was going to pass out._

_Ed didn’t want to die. For the first time in a long time, he wished for God’s help._

_Al twisted his metal body around and grabbed for Ed. It hurt – Ed spasmed away from him, but Al was too intent on helping to let him get away. He picked his older brother – Ed was supposed to protect him, not the other way around – up and shakily stood up._

_“The Rockbell’s,” Ed said, strained._

_He thought about the Truth the whole way back._

 

Ed dreamed of Nina that night.

 

His mother told him stories about the rain. Rain was an apology from God, a way of making up for the injustices in the world that He could not stop. It watered crops, washed the land and the people... it cleansed souls, or at least it was meant to; Ed didn't feel very cleansed.

The Ishvalan word for rain meant, literally, ‘tears of God’.

It was raining now. Ed knew the science behind rain, and he did not believe in God, so the mythology behind the weather was something he rarely acknowledged. His mother would suggest that both the myth and the science were true, but he didn’t want to think about that. Ed didn’t just not believe in God; he didn’t want to.

“Are you the State Alchemist, Edward Elric?” a man’s voice said.

Ed, still lost in thought, took a moment to respond. His eyes flicked up first; his head followed soon after. The man was brown-skinned, and had a X-shaped scar on his face so large that a good deal of his skin was marred white. He had dark-colored glasses that his the color but not the shape of his eyes.

Ed, who’d met only a few Ishvalans in his life (his mother, his now-dead cousin, and a stout believer hiding out in the streets), didn’t recognize the man’s race immediately. It was rare that an Amestrian recognized an Ishvalan without seeing their trademark red eyes, which was how Ed managed to go by undetected, but there were other characteristics; the white or almost white hair was a more obvious one, but there was also the upturned eyes, the slope of the nose…

“Ishvalan?” Ed murmured. He hadn’t really meant to say it out loud. Al heard him, though, and moved up before realizing himself and sitting back down.

The man’s mouth twisted into a scowl, and the shadow of his eyes were narrowed, lower eyelids cinched up. He didn’t look offended, but Ed wasn’t about to bet on that. If he _wasn’t_ Ishvalan, Ed was pretty sure he was going to get his ass kicked.

Oh well. It wasn’t like he was a pacifist.

Ed continued to stare at the man, sizing him up. Some days he wished he wasn’t a dog of the military. If he wasn’t going to get his body back, what was the point of it? Helping people? He hadn’t helped Nina, that was for sure.

Al leaned toward Ed and whispered, “You think he’s Ishvalan?”

The man breathed out angrily before Ed could answer, obviously tired of being ignored. “What does an Amestrian alchemist like you get out of accusing me of that?”

His words weren’t accented, not really, but Ed could hear the same slightly altered vowels and enunciations that his mother had spoken with. It was jarring and almost enraging.

“You say accuse like it’s a bad thing,” Ed said, standing up too awkwardly to look threatening. “Why are you looking for me? What do you want?”

“So you are the State Alchemist,” the scarred man said. “That makes things easier.”

The man composed himself and lunged for Edward.

Al yelped and moved in front, pushing the man back just in time. “He just asked if you were Ishvalan too! You don’t have to _attack_ him!”

His voice went high-pitched like it did when he got emotional. Ed thought it was kind of adorable usually, but now he just felt embarrassed. Sounding like a child in a fight didn’t make anyone look good.

The man pulled a hand back, maybe planning an attack, but then stopped, stepping back with enough force that Ed was surprised he didn’t somehow dent the ground.

“An Ishvalan, _too_?” he repeated. His voice held an emotion that Ed couldn’t place, but still didn’t like. “Are you saying you’re Ishvalan?”

Ed could feel the man’s eyes on him, scanning for Ishvalan attributes. Instinctively, he slouched back, shoulders drawing in like he was in danger. He actually was in danger, considering the man had just tried to attack him.

“Well, don’t go yelling it around,” he said, half to the stranger and half to Al, who he was a little bit ticked at. “What do you want? What do you get out of attacking me?”

“You’re lying,” the man said, inexplicably sure.

“Right,” Ed said. “Because I’d lie about something that could get me killed. _To_ a guy who just tried to kill me.”

He was getting into dangerously sarcastic territory. It was a bad habit and one that he was never getting rid of. How else was he going to take out his anger?

“I was going to kill you,” the scarred man said, low and slowly. “Now you need to explain, or I will kill you for wasting my time.”

Ed and Al exchanged a look.

“Who are you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! :) this chap was 1.3k...


	3. a religion of life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He hated meeting other Ishvalans who knew more of his mother’s culture than he did, who could still find it in themselves to believe in their God. He hated all of it. Sometimes Ed thought there was so much hatred in his heart that it would fill up his veins with spite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im SO SORRY this took so long, i got into a 15 day long writing slump and this took so long to get out there. but it's here now! and i have a general idea of how this story is going to go – its not a particularly long one but just snapshots of what i think is appropriate for it.

“I don’t use a name,” the scarred man said. His eyes were narrowed at Ed and Al like he was squinting at the sun. He didn’t say _I don’t have a name_ , which Ed thought was… telling, though of what he wasn’t sure. He thought it was an Ishvalan thing, but he didn’t know what.

Names were sacred to Ishvalans. What did it mean to not use one’s own?

“Okay,” Ed said, not voicing his confusion. To do that was close to showing vulnerability, which he wasn’t about to do to a strange man who wanted to kill him, or maybe get information from him, he wasn’t sure anymore.

“What can we call you?” Al asked. He used the same voice he did as a too-curious kid, peering at whatever subject he was questioning with bright eyes and the peak of his tongue between his teeth.

Not that he had teeth now. Or actual eyes.

The man’s eyes flicked between them, his face not revealing anything. “I don’t use a name,” he repeated.

“Fine,” Ed said. He didn’t care enough to go through a whole conversation of this. “What do you want? Are you Ishvalan?”

The man’s mouth was closed tight, but Ed could still tell that his teeth were gritted. It seemed to pain him to respond: “I escaped the Ishvalan extermination.”

It was something just left of an answer, but just enough for Ed to reluctantly take it. “And what do you want? Why were you going to kill me?”

“State Alchemists have gone past the ways of God,” the man said. “You will have your retribution… even if you are a child.”

“Because of Ishval?” Al asked.

Ed winced. That probably wasn’t the best thing to bring up. It was a tense subject even for him, and this scarred man had lived through it.

Not that Ed felt sorry for him.

The scarred man regarded Al warily before answering. “Because they have disgraced God,” he said. “And yes, because of Ishval. Now answer my question – are you Ishvalan?”

Al looked at Ed for help. Ed didn’t return his gaze.

“Our mother was,” he responded tensely. “Why does that.” his fist clenched. “What do you _want?”_

He hated thinking of Trisha.

He hated meeting other Ishvalans who knew more of his mother’s culture than he did, who could still find it in themselves to believe in their God. He hated all of it. Sometimes Ed thought there was so much hatred in his heart that it would fill up his veins with spite.

The man’s whole posture had changed with the revelation that Ed and Al were part Ishvalan. His breathing had stopped, and his shoulders were pushed back, the muscle clenched.

“I won’t spill Ishvalan blood,” the man said. “Too much has been shed already.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Ed said, stepping forward. A hand grasped his shoulder from behind.

“Brother,” Al warned. Ed slowed only because it was Al.

He glanced back at Al, trying to read his thoughts without a face. He was so ostracized from his brother – when they were children, he’d been able to understand his brother’s feelings from a few words and the look on his face, but now, some days he almost seemed like a stranger.

“What, Al?” he said lowly. The scarred man was so close he’d hear anyway, but it felt nice to at least pretend they were having a private conversation.

“If he’s Ishvalan…” Al hunched back a little. “I mean… do you think he’ll… teach us?”

“He was going to kill us,” Ed said. “He’s probably killed other alchemists – you want a murderer to try and tell us about Mom’s people?”

Al looked away. “I didn’t think about that,” he muttered.

Ed jerked his gaze away, eyebrows drawn together so closely that it would hurt if he kept it up. “Did you?” he added to the now silent man. “Did you kill other people?”

The scarred man just looked straight at Ed, focusing in on his eyes. Ed wanted to squirm, not entirely comfortable being watched so intently, but he held his ground. It was probably, he reasoned, the fact that his eyes were not red like most Ishvalans.

Then, before Ed could ask again, someone in a military uniform came running towards them.

“Fullmetal!” the man yelled. Ed didn’t recognize him, but he was one of the men working in East City command. “Get away from him?”

The scarred man moved immediately, away from Ed and Al but not leaving just yet. One of his hands was lifted up, as if he was waiting to attack. Ed looked wildly between the military man and the Ishvalan.

“Do you know who he is?” he called to the cop, who was still running toward him.

The man stopped beside Ed and drew his gun. Ed flinched back from it, but the scarred man didn’t move any further.

“That’s Scar,” the man said to Ed. “He’s been killing State Alchemists.”

“Scar,” Ed repeated, eyes drawing back to the large white scar on the man’s face. “Oh, yeah. That makes sense.”

“Alchemists defile the ways of God,” Scar said. It was directed at the cop, but it seemed almost like an afterthought, more to himself than anything. It was a repeat of what he’d said before, to Ed and Al.

Was he trying to convince himself of that?

“Save it, Scar,” the man said. Then he looked back at Ed, added, “You two should go. This guy’s dangerous.”

“Right!” Al said, grabbing Ed and stepping back.

Ed didn’t particularly want to leave Scar with some cop who probably couldn’t even use alchemy, but he also couldn’t fight very well against Al even when he wasn’t being carried away from a serial killer.

“Why can’t we fight him?” Ed asked as Al slowed down. “He’s a murderer. He’s gonna kill that guy.”

Al hesitated. “Maybe––” he glanced back, and then turned his whole body to watch.

Numerous other militia were surrounding Scar, with weapons drawn and bodies ready to fight him using alchemy. It was far away, but Ed could see Roy Mustang there, too, getting ready to rush at Scar.

“Let’s go, brother,” Al said lowly. “You don’t want him to reveal anything about us being…” the light in his eyes dimmed slightly. “Ishvalan.”

“Right,” Ed muttered, furious at the world. “Right, obviously.” he exhaled a harsh, angry breath.

Al tightened his grip on Ed. “You don’t want to get hurt,” he said.

“Yeah,” Ed said. “Of course I don’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry again for the wait. tell me what you think!


End file.
